DUFFET'S FRENCH METHOD. PART FIRST. PRONUNCIATION. THE French alphabet is composed of the following twenty-five letters, which are divided into vowels and consonants: The compound vowels are ai, eu, ou: ai has two pronunciations, è or é. The pronunciation of u is not like any English v, vay, ve. kse. Ꭹ, e grec. Z, zed. vowel. (9) ACCENT. In the French language there are three accents which are placed on the vowels to modify their pronunciation; but they belong principally to the e. L'accent aigu (é), the accute accent; as in été, summer; vérité, truth; célébrité, celebrity. L'accent grave (è), the grave accent; as in père, father; mère, mother; fidèle, faithful. L'accent circonflexe (ê), the circumflex accent; as in même, even, same; prêter, to lend; pâte, paste; apôtre, apostle. The circumflex accent often represents a letter which has been suppressed, as in pâte, formerly spelled paste; même, mesme ; forêt, forest; épître, epistre, epistle; âge, aage, age, etc. If e be without the accent, it is generally either pronounced short or not at all, and is called e mute. Table, pronounce tabl'; porte, door, pronounce port; venir, to come, pronounce v'nir; besoin, pronounce b'soin, etc. The accent aigu is only used on the e; the accent grave is also used on a; the accent circonflexe, or the long accent, occurs in the vowels a, e, i, o, u, and lengthens them—âme, tête, île, côte, flûte. Besides the three above accents, the French language has the following accentual marks: The tréma (ï, ë), two points which are sometimes placed over a vowel: haïr, to hate; ambiguë, ambiguous. The cédille (ç), which is sometimes placed under c before a, o, u: effaça, effaçons, reçut. The apostrophe ('), which takes the place of a, e, or i; l'amie, l'enfant, s'il, for la amie, le enfant, si il. The trait d'union (-), hyphen, which joins two words: porteplume, dit-elle, êtes-vous ? er, ez, ai are generally pronounced like é: parler (parlé), to speak. chanter (chanté), to sing. vous parlez (parlé), you speak. j'ai, I have. è, ais, ai, ei, ê are pronounced like ea in measure : ô, au, eau are pronounced like o in no; o like o in not: u is pronounced by contracting the mouth; it has no corresponding sound in English, and must be learned from the teacher: y is generally pronounced like two French i's; always so between two vowels: There are four nasal sounds peculiar to the French language, and represented by m, n, preceded by one or two vowels. ien is pronounced like yan in Yankee; as, chien, dog. These are all pronounced without sounding n, like an of the English word anger : in im Pronounce somewhat like on of the word wrong, a little more broad and nasal: bon, good. bonbon, sweetmeat. brun, brown. ombre, shade. montons, let us go up. songeons, let us think. un of the word young: quelqu'un, somebody. à jeun, fasting. commun, common. If the m or n of the above combinations is doubled, or occurs between two vowels, there is no nasal sound; as, année, inattendu, etc. The following are for practice on the nasal sounds: combien, how much. comment, how. invention, invention. compenser, to compensate. vengeance, vengeance. un jambon, a ham. un enfant, a child. un bon chien, a good dog. un grand banc, a large bench. 1 or 11, preceded by i in the middle or at the end of a word, has the liquid sound found in the English word brilliant. Ai, preceding 1 or 11, has the sound of a in mat. travailler, to work. éventail, fan. corail, coral. Oseille, sorel. soleil, sun. seuil, threshold. feuille, leaf. sommeil, sleep. Versailles, Versailles. œil, eye. DIPHTHONGS. When two vowels are pronounced by a single impulse of the voice, as, oi, oin, ien, ia, ié, iè, io, ieu, uá, ué, iu, ian, ion, they are called diphthongs. roi, king; noir, black; soin, care; coin, corner; bien, good; rien, nothing; diacre, deacon; amitié, friendship; lumière, light; médiocre, middling; milieu, middle; suave, sweet; suivre, to follow; viande, meat; nation, nation; passion, passion. |